Chapter 1

I watched as the darkness enveloped me, tears running down my eyes and the burning sensation I felt in my throat from extreme thirst.

The shackles on my limbs only weaken me and take away my strength. I haven't had a meal in days and my head is starting to spin. But that's not what hurts the most, it's the ache in my heart.

What did I do to deserve this?

I'm sure any random person that sees me here would think I've committed a sin worth death, but it's the exact opposite.

I cough and the pain that stings my throat is unbearable. I truly am broken. I've only loved and I am repaid in hate. I want this to end. Someone end my misery I beg.

I sense a presence and with a weak motion of my head I manage to move my long messy locks out of my face.

I barely look up to see a figure in a cloak. It was probably death, he had come to take me. But the last time I checked men didn't have luscious thighs and perky breast. I noticed cause her cloak exposed her legs and navel but hid her face.

So death is a female now.

"Is this how you wanted it to end?" She questions me and the words sting me. Her voice sounds familiar but neglected. She sounded like she had been ignored.

I couldn't muster the strength to speak and I concluded that she was just taunting me. A cruel gesture before death is what I receive.

"Do you deserve this?" She asks again putting pressure on my already weak heart. Does she want me to die of a heartache?

I still cannot muster the strength to speak and the tears flow faster. I truly did not deserve this. I hang my head not wanting death to see my weakness and most importantly, my tears.

"Eris" she whispers my name with so much affection, so much love. I raise my gaze to her figure, I can feel her eyes penetrating my soul, "what is your offence?"

This is the third question asked and as I try to speak my words failed me. I truly had done nothing wrong. Unless love was a sin.

Still staring at her I was finally convinced that she was death in another form. I noticed her black wings that seemed unnoticeable before because of the darkness of the dungeon. The few feathers that had fallen on the ground were more beautiful than my present state. They mocked me with their grace as I looked for words to answer her.

"You did nothing wrong and this is all you got. Isn't that right Eris?" She moved closer towards me and knelt to my level. Her soft graceful fingers wiped away my tears, I was shocked.

"I am not your enemy" her voice soothed me and I lay my weary head on her palm and sobbed more. She wiped off more of my tears that had stained my once beautiful face. I had found comfort in her. Who knew death could be so comforting.

I felt my upper limbs drop, the shackles that once bound me fell off and I watched the way she ruthlessly broke the ones around my ankles. My ankles and wrists had red circles and I could finally feel blood rushing to my limbs. It was relief.

"Why are you helping me?" Those few words escaped my lips with much difficulty, my throat still burned and I held my throat instinctively as I coughed out my own blood.

She reached into her cloak and brought out a mini urn and gently gave me the water to drink. Another relief as the water soothed the pain in my throat, it all felt like a dream. Maybe I was dead and this was a dream.

"He doesn't love you Eris" her words felt like knives in my heart, it wounded me deeply.

"But I love him" I really did. With the whole of my heart.

"Would love do this?" Her words tore me apart once more and my eyes wandered around the dungeon I was left to die in, "Eris" my gaze returned to her almost immediately like I wanted to hear what she had to say.

"You sacrificed everything for him. You loved him with Everything in you and this is what he could give you. What about your home?"

"I left it for him"

"What about your loved ones?"

"I left them for him"

"What about your self worth?"

"I left it for him"

I had basically left everything for him and he left me here to die. Like I meant nothing. I couldn't cry anymore, I didn't have the energy to. I was drained. Completely.

"Eris, you need to start all over again. You don't deserve this. He is not for you, he does not deserve you." Her fingers caressed my cheeks and her sharp nails teased my skin, she was right. I had loved a useless man and he had taken everything away from me.

"I want to die" I said weakly. This was too much for me to bear, I just want it to be over.

"You cannot. Instead you will leave this place and go back home" she encouraged. But how was I supposed to do that? This palace was on an island, would I swim the waters and end up dying in it? It would be better If I died here.

"Where are your wings?"

I was devastated. My mind flashed back to the traumatic incident, my ex lover ordered my wings to be cut and burnt. The pain and sorrow flooded my heart once more, I felt bitter.

"Who are you?" I evaded her question with another and I felt a smile underneath the darkness of her cloak, was it mockery?

"What a question to ask. I'm the one you almost killed"

My entire being is confused. I cannot remember hunting anyone down for execution. It made no sense. She was toying with my mind. She was death, why was she pretending?

"Please, show me, who are you?!" I begged her and she gave a light chuckle. She gentle held the hood of her cloak and pulled it down slowly. My eyes waited in anticipation and my body shook with curiosity.

And that was when I knew I was mad.

I immediately scurried away from her. This was not true.

"How is this possible?! What magic are you using to deceive me?!" I tried summoning an energy sphere but I was too weak and my body fell on hers.

"Are you surprised?" She held me protectively and stroked my hair. She was like a mother.

"How can we be the same person?? How can you be me???" I asked. My mind and body were too exhausted to comprehend the situation.

Yes indeed, the woman who I thought was death was actually me. Maybe I am now insane but she is actually me.

"You can't be me!" I pulled away from her, "I do not have black wings" my words made her smile. Why was she smiling?

"You've been lying to yourself for a long time now Eris. Your wings are black and you know it" her words stung. She was right, I had dark wings but I had them cut off so I could do a sacrifice to get white ones. I did all for him. Tears bled down my face, she held me and comforted me,

"They may have cut your wings twice but they are still with you" she reassured, "And as for me, I am that part of you you constantly denied and starved of love. I am your true self. And you almost killed me by giving everything up for that bastard"

I looked into her eyes, my eyes. The eyes that belonged to my father, the orbs as red as blood but as enticing as the dark. Those beautiful orbs that held so much pain yet so much love. Her body, my body, reminded me of my mom, the seductress. All the curves and mounds, and the nails that rip life out in a single second but also give you the best tickling sensation you've ever had. That was me.

That was me.

"I know what you're thinking, I am still you. Eris, forget him and move on. Your parents never wanted this for you. It would hurt them in the afterlife to see their only child die without fighting back"

I was right. I wouldn't just give up like that before, why should I give up so easily now?

"But how do I escape from here? I don't have my wings anymore"

"You do. Look inside of you and they will come out"

I closed my eyes and searched my deepest parts. Memories of my life flashed before my eyes and I felt the pain and power rush through me. Everything I had fought for, to be accepted and to be loved, I wouldn't give it up without a fight.

I opened my eyes and she was gone. I looked back and my wings had returned. I flapped them in excitement and gratitude, I had my real wings back. I stood up on my feet and stroked my body, I could feel the blood rush in my veins.

I looked at my nails, sharper than knives, thirsty for revenge. But I was better than that. I walked unsteadily to a piece of glass on the floor, picked it up and I found my blood eyes. I found my father in them. In me.

I tried making an energy sphere and it materialised. It was no longer blue like it used to be but purple like it originally was. I had been restored. I was me again.

And now I will be free.